DISCOVERY OF CALIFORNIA. 55 



CHAPTER VI. 



CALIFORNIA (continued) 



History of California Its Discovery bv the Europeans Several 

 Expeditions to California Spanish Missions Extraordinary Size 

 of Plants Pearls Russian Colony Captain Slitter His Bio 

 graphy and his Extraordinary Adventures. 



CALIFORNIA, which was for a long time thought to be an 

 island, was discovered in 1532 by Diego Hurtado de 

 Mendoza, Diego Becerra, and Hernando de Grijalva, sent 

 especially tor that purpose by Hernan Cortez. Cortez, not 

 being quite satisfied with the result of these expeditions, 

 started himself for these regions, and explored the coast and 

 the Gulf of California, which has been known since as Cortez 

 Sea. For want of provisions he soon returned, and very little 

 more was heard of that country until 1539, when a rich 

 Spaniard, of the name of Francisco Ulloa, set out at his own 

 expense, and explored the eastern and western coasts. He 

 landed at last, but not without opposition from the natives, 

 who with much clamour and gestures set upon him and his 

 followers with stones and arrows with such fury, that they 

 would have met w r ith a serious repulse had it not been for the 

 valour of the mastiff dogs which he carried along with him. 

 At last, he got such a good footing, that he was able to take 

 possession of the country in the name of the King of Spain, 

 with the usual formalities, setting up a cross as a memorial 

 and a testimony of his having been there. Ulloa, during his 

 expedition, which lasted two years, went as far as the mouth 

 of the Rio Colorado. The map published in Mexico by the 

 pilot Castillo, in 1541, represents the outlines of the coasts 

 of California, nearly the same as we know them to-day. 



About the same time, Marco de Nizza, or Nina, a 

 Franciscan, who visited that country, on his return re 

 ported the wonders that he had seen. Stately cities with 

 magnificent buildings, the very gates of which were enriched 

 with turquoises and other precious stones, and whose in- 



